Road Safety World Series 2022: Dwayne Smith's 42-ball 73 propels West Indies Legends to another big win

Indore, Sep 17: West Indies Legends produced yet another clinical effort in all three departments and beat England Legends by 8 wickets and 16 balls to spare in match number 9 of the Road Safety Series 2022 here at Holkar Stadium on September 17.

Brian Lara-led side thus climbed to the top of the points table with two wins in three games.

Chasing a competitive target of 157, West Indies' top-order once again proved its mettle and sent warning signals to the opponents. The opening duo of Dwayne Smith and William Perkins slammed respective fifties apart from sharing a century stand. Both the batters took every English bowler on remand with their big-hitting prowess.

Smith - who slammed a slow half-century against Bangladesh in the tournament opener in Kanpur - unleashed his beast mode in Indore. The right-handed batter - who owns a reputation of being a T20 dasher - exploded from the word go in the run chase and got to his fifty off just 30 deliveries. His innings came to an end for 73 off 42 deliveries (9 fours, 3 sixes) when Rikki Clarke appealed for a leg before against him in the 12th over. The batter walked away immediately soon after the umpire raised his finger and didn't even bother reviewing it. The Windies thus lost their first wicket for 121.

While Smith was hogging the limelight with his towering sixes and powerful fours, wicketkeeper-batter William Perkins kept scoring fluently at the other end. After Smith was dismissed, the Trinidadian went on to notch up his half-century off 32 deliveries. He was retired hurt for 57 off 35 balls and out of those 40 runs came in boundaries (10 fours). Later, captain Brain Lara (22*) ensured the Men In Maroon & Yellow do not face many hiccups in the run chase and finished the game for his team.

Earlier, having been put in to bat first, England reached 156 for 5 in the stipulated 20 overs. Mal Loye and Phil Mustard opened the batting for England but the opening partnership didn't last long as Darren Powell drew the first blood for England inside the powerplay. Mustard attempted a pull shot off Powell but was a little late in his reaction time. The ball took a leading edge as the southpaw attempted a pull shot but failed miserably and all an alert Lara had to do was pouch the catch at mid-on. England's first wicket was lost for 14.

Krishmar Santokie then cleaned up Mal Loye for 9 with a brilliant yorker and England lost their second wicket at 31 in the final over of the powerplay. At the end of the powerplay, England had posted 36 runs on the board. Darren Maddy took his time to settle down but failed to convert it into a big score. England skipper Ian Bell played a knock of 46 off 43 balls. The right-handed batter shared a stand of 48 runs with Maddy for the third wicket and later combined with Clarke to forge a stand of 49-runs.

Bell mostly played second fiddle during the fifth wicket partnership and kept rotating the strike. Bell succumbed to Suleiman Benn's bowling while trying to up the ante in the death overs. He was caught at deep mid-wicket by Kirk Edwards but the captain had done his job by then.

All-rounder Rikky Clarke, however, scored at an incredible strike rate of 200 and played an entertaining knock of unbeaten 50 off just 25 balls. The right-handed veteran batter from Surrey smashed 50 off just 24 deliveries.

The 6 feet and 4-inch tall batter smashed Santokie for back-to-back maximums to get to his fifty as the crowd at Holkar Stadium broke into a rapturous cheer. Clarke's innings was studded with a couple of boundaries and five sixes. He accumulated 17 runs from the final over as the English side posted 156 for five.

Ben (2/26) and Santokie (2/38) were the best performers with the ball for West Indies.